Mark Capell Makes Bid for Mayor

Councilor Mark Capell, who was elected to the Bend City Council in 2006, announced Monday night that he believes he is the best candidate for mayor of Bend.

The council will select a new mayor in January. At that time, councilors elected in November will take office.

Capell said he hoped to stave off the typical politicking that occurs between election day and when a new council takes office over who should be mayor by announcing his interest in the position.

He said he believes he is the best candidate because of his centric position on the council and has taken a leadership role in key projects such as OSU-Cascades. He said he has the budgeting experience necessary to birddog the large and expensive infrastructure projects the city is about to undertake.

"I believe I am the best choice to serve as mayor," he said.

In other council news, Sally Russell was sworn in. She was elected to Position 3 on Nov. 6. Her opponent was sitting councilor Kathie Eckman. Eckman resigned the day after the election and encouraged Russell to take her place on the council.

Russell, who is a fairly staunch opponent to the current incarnation of the city's surface water improvement project, had the chance to weigh in on the project on her first night on council.

The council formally approved a change to the project on Monday night. They voted to maintain the historic draw of water from Bridge Creek of 18 CFS.

Russell encouraged the council to hold off on making any binding decisions on Bridge Creek until the full new council takes office in January. She abstained from the vote on the CFS question.

The council normally holds meetings on Wednesday nights, but had switched to Monday to account for the holiday.